I know what you're saying. A lot of people here seem to think that the sound that sounds best alone doesn't sound best in a band context. You need to make that determination on your own, or trust the advice of someone in the house who can hear. I don't like mids in my bass sound, but listen to everything and see if the sound you like is being heard in the mix. If it is- follow what you believe in and what you experience, not what you read, but really listen.

bimplizkit said:

What sounds like butt is ...

"either / or," when the "room / stage" seems to like the opposite. IOW:

Play, and listen to the room.... it (the sonic environment ) will determine if mids are too hot or too cold.

All this time I thought mid scoops were your best friend in cutting through...

But no?

Its all about mid-boost? which sounds like butt?

Click to expand...

it is true that your ears should be the final judge but............
mids are what people hear the best
the audience may hear the attack of your highs to a point, and they may feel your lows, but they will hear the mids.
don't belive me?
have a friend play in a full on band setting with the mids cut, flat, and slightly boosted

Try boosting around the 1.6khz this allows the bass to standout without losing the clarity and bottom end. I to was having the mid scooped problem in our band, as well as ultra low bass, sounded great on my own but with drums and guitar it was a boomy load of mud. Reduced the ultra low and boosted the 1.6khz and now it rocks.

General rule: Take the sound you love in your bedroom, and do the exact opposite when you play live. That might be an exaggeration, but it's not far from the truth. I have found that for me, a boost around 600Hz will let people feel and hear more of the bass.

The sound that works well on stage will sound a little muddy in your bedroom.

It is worth noting that there are good mids and bad mids. From my experience, it seems that there is more variance from gear to gear in how midrange is reproduced than in either the low end or the high end. For instance: I can't find another bass that can match the darkish yet clear mids of my Thunderbird. The preamps at Basstasters.com show a lot of variety in the mids. Among some of the better amps that I have tried (WWU, Thunderfunk, iAMP 800, Walkabout), the mids seem to vary the most (though there are certainly other distinctions). And it really shines through with cabs. With all else being equal, mids that would sound sucky (to my ears, at least) through a 410XLT (an excellent cab, and just the ticket for many cats), sound killer (again, to my liking) through a VL-208 (the midrange king, IMHO). As I have been experimenting with more and more cabs, I find myself leaning towards cabs with great midrange (EA and Accugroove cabs, mostly, although certain cabs from ACME, Epifani and Bergantino also really float my boat).

So, while a discussion of general preference for mid-cut, mid-boost, or relatively flat mids is certainly worthwhile, keep in mind that all mids are not created equal!

i have found that, despite differing mid reproduction in my different pieces of gear, i prefer the sound of mids. in fact, unlike most people, my bedroom tone keeps the mids -- i rarely ever like a scooped sound.

i have found my bergantino HT-112 to be the sweetest sounding cab i've ever played when it comes to mids. it's so articulate and smooth. that is why i love it so.

I eats em for brakfast lunch and dinner. Seriously, I understand the struggle between the beefy mid scoope and the quest for sweet mid range. The classic GK mid scoope button on the 800 is a good example. It can pump you lows to juicy goodness, but suck the life out of your mids, especially on the D and G string. GK now has a variable scoope knob on their later designs...as does Eden, SWR, etc. this allows for more or less scoope, depending on the situation. I rarely scoope the mids, but I'm mostly a fingerstyle player now. Back when I thought I was Flea, I used the scoope a lot...depends on the sound you are after. But you have to have SOME mids to cut throught the band. Finding the mid sweet spot is your quest. Interesting post above about a lot of the high end cab mfgr's treatment of mids...I have found some of the "flat" sounding cabs to lack cut-through and definition in a band setting...but my conclusion is- personally, for my taste, I like a touch of low mid hump...adds midrange cut-through without being clanky or nasal snarly.

Yup. I see what y'all mean. I find that setting the 'best sound' - speaking EQ-wise - for the B and E strings leaves the other three sounding lifeless. It's because I end up scooping-out the low-mids too much.

For me, mids help cut through in my loud classic rock band. Best combination I have found for a thick, very audible tone with plenty of bottom, is a Fender Precision and Ampeg SVT. Gets the job done every time. Most of the bands that I hear where the bassist uses a lot of mid scoop, particularly with bright strainless strings and active electronics, it is very hard to hear anything but ping ping ping. There is no bottom, and overall the band sounds weak and harsh